Encouraging altruistic user-generated content in gamified review platforms

Abstract

Purpose

This study proposes and tests a model to analyse whether achievement, social and immersion motivational affordances embedded in gamified review platforms motivate consumers to altruistically create content in the post-consumption stage.

Design/methodology/approach

We used data from a sample of 343 reviewers and employed SmartPLS to test the research model.

Findings

Findings revealed that, while achievement affordances (i.e. points, levels and badges) have no significant effect, immersion affordances (i.e. avatars) and more especially, social affordances (i.e. receiving helpful votes from readers and having followers) are key for review platforms, as they drive consumers to develop pure, reciprocal and competitive forms of altruism, which, in turn, motivate them to create content.

Research limitations/implications

This study examines the antecedents and consequences of altruistic purpose in the context of gamified review platforms by proposing research questions aimed at eliciting the effects of achievement, social and immersion affordances on altruism, and by providing the first empirical evidence for these paths.

Practical implications

This study provides practical guidance on how review platforms can implement social and immersion affordances to foster altruism and, ultimately, promote user-generated content in the form of comments, photos and videos.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current study is the first to develop a model to predict whether gamification affordances promote forms of altruism that result in user-generated content. The findings will improve practitioners’ strategies by focussing on social and immersion motivational affordances.